A Quebec woman who was a passenger on a motorcycle died June 16 in a crash on Rte. 5 in St. Johnsbury.

Shortly before 2 pm, a group of motorcycles was traveling south when Guy Clouatre, 61, lost control of his Harley Davidson, causing him to lay the motorcycle down in the travel portion of the roadway. A 2018 Harley Davidson driven by Danny Bouchard, 52, had been following close behind. 

Bouchard tried to avoid the fallen bike, resulting in an uncontrollable crash, which threw both himself and passenger Judith Dion, 53, from the motorcycle. Bouchard suffered non-life threatening injuries, but Dion, of Mont-Saint-Gregoire, died in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Trucker dies in I-91 crash – Shortly after noon on June 16, troopers responded to a one vehicle crash involving a water truck on I-91 N, in Dummerston. Upon arrival, Paul Dulude, 38, of Springfield MA was transported by ambulance to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital where he was then flown by DHART helicopter to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center with serious life-threatening injuries. He later died at the hospital. 

Dulude’s 1996 Peterbilt Model 320 was traveling northbound on I-91 when it left the road. 

Wrong-way trucker arrested – A trucker was arrested June 16 in Orleans County after police say he drove a tractor-trailer the wrong way on I-91 in Coventry.

A state police trooper says he was headed south on I-91 at around 2:45 p.m. when he encountered the rig traveling north in the southbound lane near mile marker 167. Multiple 911 calls started coming in at the same time from members of the public alerting police to the wrong-way driver.

Troopers, along with Orleans County Sheriff’s Deputies, Newport Police Officers, and VT Department of Motor Vehicles Inspectors began responding to the area. Troopers in marked units slowed southbound traffic north of the hazard, while detectives were able to overtake the vehicle by using the northbound lane.

Within minutes of the initial sighting, troopers, along with other responding law enforcement, authorities were able to stop and contain the truck in the area of the exit 27 south on-ramp.

Police say they are not sure why the driver, identified Javad Naqizade, of Dallas, TX, began traveling north from the Coventry rest area. Naqizade was subsequently placed under arrest for suspicion of grossly negligent operation and processed at the VSP Derby Barracks.

The vehicle, determined to be loaded, was removed from the scene by Ray’s Auto.